The Cattle Realm

The Cattle Realm
A new phase in the
livestock colonization
of Brazilian Amazonia
Highlights in English
The Cattle Realm - A new phase in the livestock colonization of Brazilian Amazonia
Original Title in Portuguese: O Reino do Gado - Uma nova fase na pecuarização da Amazônia Brasileira
All rights reserved
Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira - São Paulo, 2008
The full report in Portuguese is available on the web at http://www.amazonia.org.br/arquivos/259381.pdf
Authors: Roberto Smeraldi, Peter H. May
Review: Judson Ferreira Valentim
Collaboration: Mario Menezes, Luciane Simões, Alessandra Caires
Front page picture: Amigos da Terra/Amauri Moreira
We acknowledge the kind contribution to research provided by prof. Samuel Giordano from the University
of São Paulo and Alcides Torres from Scot Consultoria.
Research and surveys related to this document were financially supported by:
This document has been produced with the
financial assistance of the European Union. The
contents of this document are the sole responsibility
of Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira - and can
under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting
the position of the European Union.
Amigos da Terra Amazônia Brasileira
Rua Bento de Andrade, 85
04503-010 São Paulo SP
Tel 11 3887-9369
Fax 11 3884-2795
Web www.amigosdaterra.org.br
The Cattle Realm
highlights
Sugarcane expansion, resurgence of soybean prices and the corn explosion were among
the most controversial themes last year in Brazil, reflecting domestic and external trends. The
advance of the agricultural frontier into forests, particularly in the Amazon, stimulated
international discussion, especially in the light of climate change negotiations. But in reality,
whatever other factors may be involved in the transformation and displacement of agricultural
activities, land use change in the Amazon is first and foremost a product of ranching. It is on the
hooves of cattle, out on the forest fringe, where the repercussions of investments and alterations
in food or energy consumption are felt. The principal indirect impacts around large infrastructure
investments are also generally associated with cattle expansion. Ranching in the Amazon
spread at an unprecedented rate over the past five years, and now requires additional and
undivided attention on the part of government authorities, the market chain, financial
institutions, scientists and civil society organizations. Today, Brazil still underestimates or is
simply unaware of the dimension and dynamics of this phenomenon.
_1.1 In 2007, for the first time, the Legal Amazon[1]
_1.2 The cattle herd in the Legal Amazon
passed the historical threshold of 10 million head
of cattle slaughtered, with an increase of 46% over
the figure in 2004. Slaughterhouses in the
Amazon accounted for 41% of all head of cattle
processed in Brazil in 2007, compared with 34% in
2004. In 2006, the offtake (% of the total herd
slaughtered each year) grew to the point that it
exceeded the natural growth of the herd, a rate of
growth itself considered relatively high due to the
good productivity of areas used for ranching in
the Amazon. This occurred due to an expressive
growth in slaughter of females. Growth in
production in the Amazon was decisive for Brazil
to become, since 2004, the second largest global
producer of beef, even when the European Union
is treated as a single country.
reached approximately 74 million head, or 3.3
head per inhabitant, triple the national average.
In Mato Grosso, this ratio attained 9.3 head per
inhabitant; in Rondônia, 7.7. For every four
additional head of cattle in Brazil in the last five
years, three were added in the Amazon.
[1]
The Legal Amazon includes the states of Mato Grosso,
Rondônia, Acre, Amazonas, Roraima, Amapá, Pará, Tocantins
and Maranhão
_1.3 Between December 2003 and the same month
in 2006 (most recent data regarding the herd size),
there was hardly any growth outside of the Legal
Amazon; 96% of all growth registered in this period
in the country (equivalent to approximately 10
million head) is from the Amazon.
_1.4 The growth in beef production in the
Amazon (estimated in approximately 1.5 million
tons carcass equivalent during the last five
years) outpaced the increase in exports
registered over the same period (approximately
1.4 million tons carcass equiv.). It was therefore
the increase in Amazon production that
permitted Brazil to take the lead as of 2004 in beef
exports, well out in front of its competitors. In 2007,
Brazil exported more beef than the second and third
place countries taken together.
_1.5 One third of Brazilian fresh beef exports in
2007 came from direct exports from the Amazon,
notably from the states of Mato Grosso, Pará,
Rondônia and Tocantins. Since 2004, Pará
increased its direct exports (by weight) by 7,800%,
Rondônia by 1,350%, Tocantins by 150% and Mato
Grosso by 360%. These data do not include exports
of live cattle by Pará that exceeded 200,000 head in
2007. Mato Grosso mainly exported to Russia,
Egypt, China (via Hong Kong), United Kingdom,
Italy, Germany and the United States. Rondônia's
principal importers included Russia, Egypt, China
and the United Kingdom. Pará, whose exports
boomed since mid-2007, has Israel, Egypt, China,
Saudi Arabia, Ivory Coast, Lebanon and Angola as
main importers.
_1.6 The removal of restrictions against the
Amazon region for control of hoof-and-mouth
disease not only placed it in the same phytosanitary category as other regions of the country,
but made it a zone of preference for some
importers. The new phenomenon is that the
south and southeast regions were once again
threatened by this disease, owing to their greater
contact and integration with infected areas. The
substitution of ranching by other, more profitable
uses of land (grain, sugarcane, urbanization,
etc.) in the south and southeast regions, and the
facility of land access in the Amazon, may have
contributed to a progressive transference of the
herd to the North. Ranchers who transferred their
herds to the Amazon now participate, with lesser
restrictions, in the growing export market. In this
sense, recent commercial restrictions imposed
by the European Union and other countries may
actually be contributing to the pace of ranch
expansion in the Amazon.
_1.7 The growth in industrial capacity, with
the proliferation of new slaughterhouses and
the arrival in the region of the five largest
exporters contributed, at least in some poles,
to the expansion of ranching during the last
few years. The majority of the nearly 200
slaughterhouses in operation in the region
should be considered illegal, including the
industrial segment. Those that held a Federal
Inspection Service (SIF) registry grew from 27
in 2004 to 87 by the end of 2007. Even these,
however, are supplied by largely illegal
ranchers from the point of view of land tenure,
labor and environmental legislation. For
example, as of January 2007, 62% of enterprises
that are on the “dirty list” of slave labor by the
Labor Ministry were Amazon ranches.
Slaughterhouses responsible for more than
73% of Brazilian exports acquired their
products from ranches that operated with
slave labor between 2006 and 2007.
_1.8 There coexist today in the Amazon a
range of productivity patterns, in accordance
with the profile of ranchers and different
regions. The stocking rate varies from 0.4 head
to 3.8 head per hectare, varying with soil
fertility, previous land use and pasture
management, as well as genetic material and
management of the herd itself. The average
regional rate is 1.4 head per hectare. Pastures
recently converted from forests possess
greatest fertility, a factor that stimulates
expansion of the ranching frontier.
_1.9 The explosion of ranching in the Amazon
over the last decade was responsible for a
volume of emissions of greenhouse gases of
between 9 and 12 billion tons of CO2-equivalent
(including land use change and enteric
fermentation of the herd, but without taking
processing and transport into account), that is,
an order of magnitude comparable in volume to
two years of emissions by the United States, the
highest emitting country in the world.
_1.10 Lack of organization and profound
asymmetries in the beef supply chain offer the
opportunity for actions to improve control,
security, transparency and organization in a
business undergoing rapid transformation and
which is growing at an unprecedented and
unpredictable rate. Lack of investment in the
recuperation of degraded pastures and the lack of
a focus on small production impede the
dissemination of sustainable practices.
_1.11 The establishment of criteria and
standards, whether specific to the productive unit
or of wider coverage and related to regional land
use, can contribute to the transparency and
structuring of the chain, but its implementation
tends to depend on the effective establishment of a
reference system for verification and certification
over the entire agricultural and livestock sector.
Figure 1
World Beef Production
Figure 2
World Beef Exports
Figure 3
Slaughterhouses with
Federal Registry in the
Legal Amazon - December 2007
RR
AP
Ananindeua
Castanhal
Manaus
Mãe do Rio
Altamira
Santarém
Igarapé do Meio
São Luís
AM
PA
Açailândia
Marabá
Imperatriz
Tucumã
Eldorado Carajás
Xinguara
Àgua Azul do Norte
Rio Maria
Redenção
Araguaína
Nova Olinda
AC
Boca do Acre
Colinas do Tocantins
Santana do Araguaia
Ariquemes
Porto Velho
Rio Branco
Senador Guiomard
Alta Floresta
Jaru
RO
Vila Rica
Nova Canaã do Norte
Cacoal
MT
Chupinguaia
Gurupi
Araguaçú
Sinop
Vilhena
Sorriso
Paranatinga
Canarana
Água Boa
Tangará da Serra
Mirassol d´Oeste
Nova Xavantina
Pontes e Lacerda
Araputanga
Cuiabá
Barra do Garça
Várzea Grande
S. José dos Quatro Marcos
Cáceres
Source: Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira, 2008
based on Ministry of Agriculture data
Paraíso do Tocantins
Colíder
Juína
Rolim de Moura
TO
Matupá
Juara
Ji-Paraná
Pimenta Bueno
Colméia
Rondonópolis
Pedra Preta
Alavorada
Bacabal
MA
Timon
Table 1
Principal Importers of Brazilian Beef (Jan-Nov 2007)
Country
Russia
The Netherlands
Egypt
USA
Italy
United Kingdom
China incl. Hong Kong
Germany
Iran
Weight in Value in
tons
US$ (000)
428,877
907,484
59,846
331,826
176,571
331,234
62,353
306,054
59,414
275,391
80,496
261,963
86,846
171,964
22,472
135,387
56,841
132,733
Source: Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira, 2008
based on Ministry of Development data
Table 2
Cattle Herd Size in the Legal Amazon and in Brazil (1994-2006)
Brazil and States
Brazil
Rondônia
Acre
Amazonas
Roraima
Pará
Amapá
Tocantins
Maranhão
Mato Grosso
Amazônia Legal
Brazil and States
Brazil
Rondônia
Acre
Amazonas
Roraima
Pará
Amapá
Tocantins
Maranhão
Mato Grosso
1994
1995
158,243,229 161,227,938
3,469,519
3,928,027
464,523
471,434
746,638
805,804
285,596
282,049
7,539,452
8,058,029
86,221
93,349
5,374,168
5,544,400
4,101,939
4,162,059
12,653,943 14,153,541
34,721,999 37,498,692
2001
2002
176,388,726 185,348,838
6,605,034
8,039,890
1,672,598
1,817,467
863,736
894,856
438,000
423,000
11,046,992 12,190,597
87,197
83,901
6,570,653
6,979,102
4,483,209
4,776,278
19,921,615 22,183,695
1996
1997
1998
1999
158,288,540 161,416,157 163,154,357 164,621,038
3,937,291
4,330,932
5,104,233
5,441,734
853,264
862,534
906,881
929,999
733,910
770,805
809,302
826,025
400,334
377,546
424,700
480,500
6,751,480
7,539,154
8,337,181
8,862,649
63,648
65,953
74,508
76,734
5,242,655
5,350,885
5,441,860
5,813,170
3,935,754
3,905,311
3,936,949
3,966,430
15,573,094 16,337,986 16,751,508 17,242,935
37,491,430 39,541,106 41,787,122 43,640,176
2003
195,551,576
9,392,354
1,874,804
1,121,009
423,400
13,376,606
81,674
7,659,743
5,514,167
24,613,718
2004
2005
2006
204,512,737
10,671,440
2,062,690
1,156,723
459,000
17,430,496
82,243
7,924,546
5,928,131
25,918,998
207,156,696
11,349,000
2,313,185
1,197,171
507,000
18,063,669
96,599
7,961,926
6,448,948
26,651,500
205,886,244
11,484,162
2,452,915
1,243,358
508,600
17,501,678
109,081
7,760,590
6,613,270
26,064,332
Source: Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira, 2008 based on Brazillian Institute of Geografy and Statistics data
Table 3
Change in Cattle Slaughter in the
Legal Amazon (in units)
2004
State
Acre
Amapá*
Amazonas
Maranhão
Mato Grosso
Pará
Rondônia
Roraima
Tocantins
Amazônia Legal
Brazil
Nº Head
Slaughtered
2005
% of National
Slaughter
121,768
7,380
0
369,577
3,340,452
1,388,827
1,123,470
21,799
659,557
0.6
0.04
1.8
16.3
6.8
5.5
0.1
3.2
7,032,830
20,508,448
34
100
Nº Head
Slaughtered
126,498
8,730
30,315
349,341
3,992,697
1,503,696
1,272,068
41,473
815,392
0.6
0.04
0.1
1.5
17.6
6.6
5.6
0.2
3.6
8,140,210
22,623,602
36
100
2006
State
Acre
Amapá*
Amazonas
Maranhão
Mato Grosso
Pará
Rondônia
Roraima
Tocantins
Amazônia Legal
Brazil
Nº Head
Slaughtered
% of National
Slaughter
2007
% of National
Slaughter
Nº Head
Slaughtered
(through Sept.)
** nº Head
Slaughtered
(projection 2007)
% of National
Slaughter
(projection 2007)
150,672
9,810
57,877
522,450
4,597,675
1,702,274
1,648,987
45,676
1,061,732
0.6
0.04
0.2
2.1
18.6
6.9
6.7
0.2
4.3
203,105
0
14,476
328,929
3,448,666
1,458,708
1,464,353
29,353
831,814
270,807
9,810
19,301
438,572
4,598,221
1,944,944
1,952,471
39,137
1,109,085
1.1
0.04
0.1
1.7
18.2
7.7
7.7
0.2
4.4
9,797,153
24,669,907
40
100
7,779,404
18,938,869
10,382,349
25,251,825
41
100
* Estimate based on projection of 9% over the herd size, due to insufficient SIPA/DFA-AP data.
** Projection through December 2007 based on average of period Jan-Sept. 2007.
Source: Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira, 2008
Based on data from Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Management and Supply; SIPA
(Inspection Service for Products of Animal Origin); DFA (Federal Agricultural Delegation)
Table 4
Exports of Fresh Beef from the Legal Amazon
2004
State
Value US$ Net Weight
FOB
(tons)
Mato Grosso 132,599,558
Pará
248,837
Rondônia
12,362,022
Tocantins
10,210,584
TOTAL
State
2005
Value US$
FOB
92,068.396 249,135,250
189.055
963,295
8,172.085 36,793,979
6,893.626 12,697,170
146,093.456
565.133
20,707.376
8,272.277
155,421,001 107,323.162 299,589,694
175,638.242
2006
2007 (Jan-Oct)
2007 (Projection Jan-Dec)*
Value US$ Net Weight Value US$ Net Weight Value US$ Net Weight
FOB
(tons)
FOB
(tons)
FOB
(tons)
Mato Grosso 587,347,673 260,732.232 592,723,721 265,825.913
Pará
21,008,148
9,739.170 23,668,157 11,750.224
Rondônia
124,894,227 50,982.921 165,745,288 80,209.939
Tocantins
53,521,918 24,348.791 23,958,004 12,604.108
TOTAL
Net Weight
(tons)
790,298,295 354,434.551
31,557,543 15,666.965
220,993,717 106,946.585
31,944,005 16,805.477
786,771,966 345,803.114 806,095,170 370,390.184 1,074,793,560 493,853.579
Source: Amigos da Terra- Amazônia Brasileira, 2008 b ased on Ministry of Development data
*projection until Decemb er, 2007 b ased on average of the period b etween January and Octob er, 2007